Randall Lotowycz
It was only a matter of time before we dived into the world of Italian film franchises. To kick things off, we’ll look at the storied La Casa film series, whose entries rarely had anything to do with each other many happened to be known as very different—and not always linked—films. Not one but two key U.S. horror film franchises contributed to the La Casa series. Here we go….
Read MoreThe only thing that could make a franchise trickier than sequels, reboots, and remakes is, well, time travel. So with that in mind, let’s look at apes, robots, and mutants, and try to sort through the continuity when time travel plays a part of the narrative.
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An early box office casualty of the pandemic, Bad Trip was recently released on Netflix nearly a year after its originally scheduled theatrical date. Directed by Kitao Sakurai, the hidden-camera prank comedy spawning from the delightfully deranged mind of star Eric Andre follows the tradition of Sacha Baron Cohen films and the likes of Bad Grandpa. It pieces together a fictional narrative around a series of pranks involving real people with very real reactions. Here, Andre’s character Chris embarks on a road trip from Florida to New York with his best friend Bud (Lil Rel Howery) to confess his love to his childhood crush Maria (Michaela Conlin). They’re unknowingly pursued by Bud’s prison-escapee sister Trina (Tiffany Haddish), whose car they stole for the trip.
Read MoreSequels, reboots, remakes… Where to begin? If you think keeping up with the Marvel movies is overwhelming, wait until you try sorting through these series. We’ve decided to make it simple (well, simpler) with handy series charts.
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A 3D-printed gun with the electronic file needed to produce it available to everyone in the world is more terrifying than the atomic bomb as the materials are so much more easily obtained. The very concept some would argue the internet was made for, others can just as easily argue for restrictions. It’s scary because it’s not just a concept. It’s science fiction made real, and I can’t shake the memory of a certain bleak and unsettling moment from Terminator 2. When Cody Wilson invented this 3D-printed gun, the world changed. The discussion of gun control as it has existed is no longer relevant. But it isn’t just a Second Amendment issue. Wilson’s First Amendment rights are also at stake. Should he be allowed to share the file with the world? Is the government violating his First Amendment rights by trying to stop him?
Read MoreJayne Mansfield helped define a generation of sex appeal in the 1950s with her meteoric rise to fame. Much more than a Marilyn Monroe knock-off, she had a knack for camp that inspired just as many people as her looks. When the sixties rolled along, she struggled to hold onto her fame. The changing culture and her own retreat into domestic life made it difficult to stay in the spotlight. Not long before her truly tragic and horrific death, Mansfield became acquainted with Anton LaVey, the enigmatic founder of the Church of Satan. Just how deep did she flirt with the dark side? And did it bring about her death?
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“Play the one where it sounds like the whole studio is going to explode.”
Suzanne Ciani is a woman of great talent who found success in every area of interest she sought to explore. A pioneer of electronic music, her mastery of the modular synthesizer–a instrument in infancy when she discovered it–propelled her to much success in the fields of music and advertising. Her life and career(s) are brought to vivid life in Brett Whitcomb‘s documentary, A Life in Waves.
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Performance artist Amir Asgharnejad made a name for himself with viral videos in which he picked fights with strangers on the streets of Oslo, Norway, and got beat up. Unbeknownst to the millions of people watching the videos, the fights were staged. The strangers Asgharnejad provoked were hired actors. This antics caught the attention of a Los Angeles-based advertising firm, who wanted to build an entire energy drink campaign around Asgharnejad. Committed to see how far he could continue the ruse, Asgharnejad flew out to Los Angeles to take the job.
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After 25 years in prison, Mi-Hee (Yunjin Kim) is released to serve out the rest of her sentence in her own home, where decades earlier her husband was killed and her son disappeared. She was convicted of killing them both. Though she can’t explain the events of the night that irrevocably altered her life, she maintains her innocence and still seeks to find out what happened to her son. With the help of Priest Choi (Taecyeon), the centuries-old mysteries of the house start to come to light.
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The beautiful Kira (Rebecca Forsythe) isn’t doing so well. What started as a small patch of dead skin is spreading at an alarming rate across her body. She’s also suffering from memory loss. She seeks the help of Dr. Rafaela Crober (Barbara Crampton), who appears concerned but not alarmed. Fearing the loss of her beauty, Kira grows desperate. Lotions and medication aren’t doing anything. But a skin graft from a living donor provide a temporary remedy and Kira spirals out of control as she continues to perform skin the grafts on herself with the aid of some very unwilling donors.
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